Creativity Friday: Interview with Lisa Hunt, Fairy Tale Tarot creator

I’m so pleased that internationally acclaimed tarot artist and author Lisa Hunt is my guest for today’s Creativity Friday! Lisa’s newest creation Fairy Tale Tarot has just been published by Llewellyn Worldwide to much critical praise.

Lisa and I have been friends for some years now — from before the publication of her first deck, The Shapeshifter Tarot. She’s one of the most prolific artists I know. We joke that tarot deck creators are the marathon runners of the illustration world — anyone who’s ever painted the 78 images needed for a deck understands how much work is involved. Using this analogy, Lisa is a triathlon champion: Besides The Fairy Tale Tarot, her many, many tarot decks include the bestselling Celtic Dragon Tarot and the award-winning Animals Divine Tarot. I don’t know how she does it all — and so beautifully too!

My interview with Lisa is all about The Fairy Tale Tarot, from inspiration to publication. On top of that, she’s offering a giveaway of The Fairy Tale Tarot set accompanied by a beautiful fine art print of Red Riding Hood. Info on how to enter the giveaway is at the end of this post.

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Kris Waldherr: What inspired you to create The Fairy Tale Tarot?

Lisa Hunt: I have always loved fairy tales. They were the first narratives I heard and they are comfort stories I carry with me. I don’t think a day goes by when I don’t think about fairy tales. I always wanted to explore these stories through written narrative and art, but I didn’t see the obvious until many years later. The big aha moment occurred one Friday while sipping margaritas under the light of a full moon. I was talking about my desire to paint and retell fairy tales when my brilliant hubby blurted out: “You should create a fairy tale deck!”. At that moment, the light bulb exceeded full wattage and I was ready to jump into this new adventure.

KW: The deck and book set look like an amazing amount of work! How long did it take for you to bring it to fruition? What did you find the easiest — and the most challenging — about creating this project?

LH: I started working on the project around 2004- early ‘05 and signed a contract (the easiest part of the project) with Llewellyn in the Spring of 2005. The most challenging part was the very beginning. It reminded me of my first grad school colloquium experience when all the expectations for earning a masters degree seemed absolutely insurmountable. I thought: “How will I ever get through this?” But once you get going, you do get through it and you actually start feeding on the very challenges that had seemed so daunting in the beginning. The Fairy Tale Tarot was the same way. I knew I had to write 78 stories with accompanying art within the somewhat limited format of a tarot deck. I mean, each story had to be self-sustaining using only one image and 2 or 3 pages of text. I sat there and thought “How will I ever get through this?”. But once I started, I was hooked all the way.

KW: The art for The Fairy Tale Tarot is unmistakably your style, which is so well known and loved within the tarot community. Yet it also reminds me a little of those wonderful English book illustration from the early twentieth century — Edmund Dulac, Arthur Rackham. Can you tell me a little about the evolution of the art for The Fairy Tale Tarot?

LH: Great question. My decision to adapt my work to reflect a golden age vintage feel was partially an attempt to mirror what I felt about these stories. I wanted the artwork to assume a sort of timeless quality to honor these lasting narratives. And to me illustrators like Rackham, Dulac, Beatrix Potter and even more contemporary fairy tale illustrators like the late Trina Schart Hyman and Lisbeth Zwerger (whose work I adore), had produced work that is proving to stand the test of time. The world is changing so quickly around us—and in ways that are mind boggling and downright stressful. It was my mission to create something that will also stand the test of time and serve as a potential source of comfort and introspection for many years to come

KW: Once Upon A Time, the book which accompanies the deck, is wonderfully written. I especially love the retellings which accompanies each of the 78 cards in the deck. They remind me of an old fashioned fairy tale book, such Andrew Lang’s The Blue Fairy Book. How did you go about matching the tales to the tarot cards? What considerations did you take in mind?

LH: Believe it or not, it was a relatively painless process. I spent an entire summer season reading fairy tale books. And as I read through entire collections including the complete set of Andrew Lang’s books, I instinctively put the puzzle pieces together. I pretty much identified potential stories for inclusion as I was reading along, with very few diversions from the original list. I supplemented the fiction with piles of scholastic support including Maria Von Frantz, Marina Warner, Maria Tatar, Jack Zipes, the inclusion of analytical psychology and the list goes on. Reading unlocked the ideas and by the time I accumulated a dozen note-filled journals, I knew what stories would best represent the card meanings (based on the Rider-Waite system). I will admit that I did get stuck on a few cards, but I simply put them away and revisited them when inspiration struck.

KW: One of my favorite retellings in Once Upon A Time is “Sealskin”, which accompanies the Queen of Cups. It’s about a shapeshifting female seal who is trapped into marriage when a man captures her sealskin; in this instance, the sea symbolizes the need for emotional freedom, for artistic self-expression. Though the seal wife eventually falls in love with her husband and the family they create, she cannot resist returning to the sea when the opportunity arises:

“She took the skin and embraced her offspring. She held them close for along while, smelling the essence of their earthy hair. As much as she ached for her children, she still had a seal heart — and it was pulling her toward the ocean…. She changed into a seal and dove into the waves.”

What I find especially bittersweet about this story is that the seal wife has to sacrifice one for the other — if she stays with her human family, she is denying her seal nature; if she returns to the sea, she has to leave her earth life behind. It’s the typical “can’t win for losing” scenario so many women face as we struggle to balance family responsibilities with personal development. What advice would you give other women struggling with this same conundrum?

LH: Wow Kris, you pretty much nailed it. There has been some resistance to this card—not necessarily in a negative sense, but because of the profound sadness of the tale’s outcome (leaving her human children behind). But on a symbolic level, it’s much more than that. I think it’s about a woman trying to maintain her own individual voice while addressing the needs of loved ones. I think a lot of women grapple with this including myself. We have an inner calling (the sea) to follow our desires, yet our nurturing natures keep us grounded by the shore, so to speak. I think the original telling was way ahead of its time!

But I honestly don’t think it’s good or wise to completely give up one for the other, despite the challenges of balancing both. If we ignore the needs of the soul, then we are denying ourselves a piece of who we are. And without an outlet to help appease those desires, what will become of all that energy? Like Sealskin, we may start languishing and grow deeply unhappy resulting in the very disharmony we were trying to avoid in the first place.

KW: On a related note, what is your favorite story and card in The Fairy Tale Tarot? Why?

LH: My favorite story that I had written (retold) was “The Little Match Girl” — oh, what an emotional tale full of gut wrenching turmoil. I cried the whole time I worked on it. Despite the sadness, writing it was magical and memorable.

It’s hard for me to choose favorite card paintings, but I love The Sorceress (The Lake Maiden) and all the mystery surrounding her. I think in some ways, I associate that card with the creation of the deck.

KW: You’ve created more tarot decks than any other artist I can think of. As such, you’ve been directly involved in the evolution of tarot. After working on so many decks, what do you consider the future of tarot?

LH: I started working on tarot decks 15 years ago and back then, it was still considered a taboo subject for some people. I did not publicly flaunt my way through Shapeshifter Tarot, but kept a very low key profile. That may sound strange, but at the time, there wasn’t the visibility or widespread acceptance (relatively speaking) that decks are now enjoying. And the internet had yet to really take off—which in some ways changed the entire tarot landscape. I feel tarot entered a renaissance around the new millennium followed by a subsequent boom. This resulted in an explosion of deck publications that continues to grow and captivate tarot enthusiasts from all over the world. I don’t know if I was part of the evolution, but I certainly feel lucky to somehow be part of an amazing era.

KW: Finally, do you have any advice for future tarot deck creators?

LH: Have a strong vision, be willing to dedicate years to the task and live and breathe the very deck you’re creating. I also feel strongly that a potential tarot deck creator should follow his/her own unique voice; and not attempt to emulate what has already been done.

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There are two ways to enter Lisa’s giveaway:

1. Leave a comment on her Fairy Tale Tarot blog here.

2. You can also enter on Twitter. The details are here.

Comments and tweets must be left by 11:59 September 18th. Winner will be announced by Lisa on September 20th.

Good luck to all who enter! And, in the meantime, if you have any questions or comments for Lisa about this interview or The Fairy Tale Tarot, please leave them here in the comments section. I know she’ll be stopping by to respond.

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All images © 2009 Lisa Hunt. Used by permission.

• Filed under creativity, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, interviews, tarot and oracles, the world around me | 11 Responses

Creativity Friday: Interview with Women of Wisdom founder and author Kris Steinnes ~ and book giveaway!

I’m very pleased to have Kris Steinnes as my guest for this edition of Creativity Friday. Kris has accomplished some amazing things to further the empowerment of women everywhere. She’s the founder of the Seattle-based Women of Wisdom foundation, as well as an author and editor of a new book which bears the same name. In Kris’s involvement with WOW, she has brought together women leaders from many fields to share their experiences. Their ultimate goal is to build a world in which women’s voices are heard and feminine wisdom can be lived to its fullest.

(Full disclosure: I was fortunate to be a workshop presenter at Women of Wisdom a few years ago. It was a wonderful experience!)

Women of Wonder: Empowering the Dreams and Spirit of Women reminds me in some ways of Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party, one of my favorite works of art. Just as The Dinner Party showcases the contributions of women throughout history, Women of Wisdom showcases the art and words of the numerous inspiring women who have presented at WOW. Besides Kris, these steller contributors include Isabel Allende, Marion Woodman, Brooke Medicine-Eagle, Nicki Scully, Frances Moore Lappé, Angeles Arrien, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Judith Orloff and Riane Eisler. Their essays and poems are interwoven with beautiful art and design.

My interview with Kris is all about her experience working on Women of Wisdom; ways women can carve out sacred space to nurture their creative spirits; and her hopes for the future of the Divine Feminine in our society.

You can purchase the WOW book at www.wisewomanpublishing.com. Heads up: some bonus gifts may still be available when you purchase from the Amazon link on their website.

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Kris Waldherr: One of the things which interests me is women’s creative processes, especially when it comes to making books and art. I read that you worked on Women of Wisdom at two writers’ retreats, one of which was in Sicily. Can you tell me about your experience? Were there specific inspirations which arose out of this situations which wove their ways into Women of Wisdom?

Kris Steinnes: I went to Sicily for a sabbatical from Women of Wisdom, and my life in Seattle! I planned to start writing the book and I did begin there. It was inspiring to just be away from everything where I could start to focus on the project. I transcribed a couple of the talks, and I also wrote some beginning pieces about how Women of Wisdom started, etc. It was a place to wind down and look out my kitchen table at the ocean, walk the beach and plan the book. I can’t say anything I wrote there is in the book – it was more what I call pre-writing. Nine months later I attended Christina Baldwin’s writing workshop on Whidbey Island, Washington. That was very inspirational to be with thirteen women writers and Christina is so good at creating sacred space and doing circle work. We met each morning and evening and did writing exercises, but the best part was having 36 hours of silence where we all worked on our writing pieces. I wrote the first chapter there which shares the experience of entering into Women of Wisdom and it just flowed from that sacred space inside of me. I have to say it turned into two-three chapters when the book was actually finished but it felt so good to complete that at the retreat. The last day we each had thirty minutes to share our writings and get feedback from everyone, which focused on the positive aspects of the writing, not a critical critique so we were all validated for our work. Amazing work was completed by everyone in those five days.

KW: A follow up: For women who perhaps don’t have access to writers’ retreats, what advice can you give on creating a sacred space to nurture their creative endeavors?

KS: After my writing retreat with Christina Baldwin life got busy again as it was Women of Wisdom conference time. So I knew I needed to create some space for me to write and get out of my house. I rented a space that was available from a friend and it was in a complex that had gardens around it, so when I took breaks I could be out in nature. I could go just for four hours a day and be away from home, phones and internet so I could really focus on the work. That’s what I knew I had to do. I know not everyone can, so I suggest you find a place in your home away from phones and anything that will disturb you. I’ve heard some advise to do it first thing in the morning before the day gets started. I’m not a morning person, but I know I don’t make it to the gym unless I do it first in my day, so I think writing can be like that. Some people it’s best late at night – it can be quiet then too. Create a place that’s for writing only and create an altar in the room. Turn off the phone if you have to, shut the door, whatever you need to do to focus. I called on the spirit of the Goddess Sophia to be with me and felt she guided me. It took discipline and it helps to have deadlines!

KW: Though your writing is featured in Women of Wisdom, you also shaped the book as editor. The book includes contributions from some major women authors, experts, and leaders, such as Riane Eisler, Isabel Allende, and Jean Shinoda Bolen. What was involved in editing such a stellar group of women?

KS: They were presenters at the Women of Wisdom conference and I chose them to be in the first book as I knew they had powerful messages for women. First we had to transcribe their talks, and then edit them to be the correct length for a chapter in a book, and to take out all the aside comments – people don’t talk as they would write. So I had to focus on what their message was and take out extraneous stories that didn’t support the message, while keeping the essence of their talk intact.

KW: Was it hard to decide what to include in the book? Was there anything you had to leave out because of space constraints that you wish you had been able to include?

KS: It wasn’t hard, but I did have to choose who would be in the first book. Some people I had been in touch with and knew they would want to participate. There were three that didn’t get in that I would have liked to have had, but they weren’t able to edit or approve their chapter in time. They will be in the second book. In the end the book got so large that the ten I have was just enough.

KW: Do you have a favorite contribution in the book? If so, which one and why?

KS: I think they’re all good. They all have a different perspective of the Divine Feminine. I love Angeles Arrien’s talk about finding meaning, magic and enchantment in our lives, and Jean Houston is always so inspiring, I love her work. Jean Shinoda Bolen’s work on the importance of circles is great, and Riane Eisler and Barbara Marx Hubbard give us important information about partnership and co-creating our world. They’re very thought provoking. And one of my favorites is Marion Woodman, who is such an inspiration and spokeswoman of the feminine.

KW: As a book designer myself, I appreciate how seamlessly your book’s text is integrated into its art and design. It’s a real outpouring of creativity and inspiration. What was involved in shaping the book’s design and art? Did you go into this with a clear vision of how the book would look? Or did it evolve gradually?

KS: I wanted it to be a full experience of the feminine and art, poetry, stories have always been an important aspect of Women of Wisdom conferences that I knew I wanted to include that in the book. All these artists, musicians and writers have been involved in the conference, whether a presenter, a participant, or a market vendor and I’m so glad they are a part of the book. It was very synchronistic how I found the book designer, as I received an email from someone from our community recommending Drai just when I knew I needed to find someone to do the book cover. I looked at her website and liked her work, so when I contacted her, I found out she actually had been to Women of Wisdom before, even though she lives in Denver. So she understands who WOW is and was able to create a book that reflects that. I chose the art and poetry to go with each writing so that it fit with the theme of that chapter.

KW: I understand that Women of Wisdom is the first of three books underway from the WOW foundation. What can we expect to see in future books? What role will you take in creating them?

KS: I hopefully will start the second book this next year. I’m getting inquiries from people who have read the book and want to submit their writings on the feminine, which is great. So I see it being more talks from WOW presenters and again art and poetry, and I’ve had experiences since writing the first book, that I’ll write some chapters as well. It will be like the first one, but probably less about the conference and more about the Divine Feminine and our experiences with Her. I’m open to people submitting art, poetry, songs and their stories of the Divine Feminine in their lives to include in the book.

KW: This book is a real labor of love, reflecting your many years of involvement as the founder of the Women of Wisdom foundation. The roots of WOW were founded in a women’s spirituality conference that took place in 1993. To say the least, both the foundation and the conference have grown considerably since then! In your book, you write that Women of Wisdom is “a path of experiences linked together through the commonality of women and spirit on a journey seeking the Divine.” What do you envision to be the future of the Women of Wisdom foundation? How does your book support and play into this vision?

KS: I have always envisioned WOW circles in other cities, and would love to consult with groups in other cities to put on a WOW conference there, perhaps license the conference to others. We receive emails from people who ask where is there a group like yours in my city. The book is supporting this, as now after the Amazon campaign women from all over the country are reading the book and are finding out about the WOW conference. We even have people in Europe who have the book now. That’s just thrilling for me to know this important work is going around the globe. I hope many of them will come in February to the conference. If anyone wants to apply to give a 3 hour workshop they are welcome to. The deadline is August 15th and they can download the application and information from our website – www.womenofwisdom.org. We can’t pay travel for these presenters, but it’s a great way to come to the conference, bring your work to Seattle and share with other women.

KW: My experience has been that our creative endeavors transform us as much as we hope they will transform others. How did working on this book transform you as a creative woman? How do you intend for your book to transform the world?

KS: I’ve been transformed and continue transforming through Women of Wisdom. I find as she grows, I grow and visa versa. I’ve learned so much about myself, the Diving Feminine, the power of a women’s community, women’s circles. I created a circle form of leadership and that’s how we run the organization, through our council circle. I’ve always been creative as I used to work in clothing design but now my creativity is moving in other new directions – being a speaker, consultant, writer, workshop leader, not just an organizer of a conference, so I’m going through a big growth phase with this book. My intention for the book is to bring the feminine consciousness to the forefront in our world so there’s a balance between male and female energies (I’m not speaking about gender here). I want to empower women to find their voices and to lead the life they’ve always dreamed of.

KW: Finally, what is the message you hope women take away from your book?

KS: My wish is for women to feel empowered to speak up and become leaders as we need more women leaders. But most importantly they’re the leaders of their own life so I hope women will take the time to rediscover what their dreams are and realize that they can still achieve them.

Also I feel the most important message is honoring and respecting our feminine gifts. I give workshops for women to find the places inside themselves where they aren’t honoring the feminine within them. We’ve been brought up in a world that doesn’t honor the feminine, and it’s up to us to change that as it begins within. So my hope is women learn to respect and honor their own feminine and know that it’s okay to express it because the world needs it now, our young women need to know the feminine is valued. When we do that we’ll begin to see it reflected in our world, and others will show the respect and honor that the feminine deserves. It’s important to explore when we silence Her and to create a safe place for Her to come forward. We need to share our gifts and our wisdom, and we are more able to do that when we feel validated and honored for our feminine gifts. When that happens we truly will find the freedom to live fully and then there will be the balance that is so needed in our world now.

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Kris has generously offered to raffle off a beautiful copy of Women of Wisdom to one blog commenter—thank you, Kris! To enter the giveaway, the rules are simple. Just leave a comment below by midnight August 2, 2009. The winner will be announced on August 3rd on this blog. Good luck to all!

In addition, here’s information about the upcoming18th Annual Women of Wisdom Conference, which takes place in Seattle Feburary 11 – 15, 2010. Special guests include Joan Borysenko and Donna Eden. Learn more or sign up for their enewsletter at www.womenofwisdom.org. If you have any questions for Kris, contact her directly at her blog or via e-mail: ks [at] wisewomanpublishing dot com.

• Filed under creativity, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, interviews, mythic living | 18 Responses

Publishing Monday: self-publishing interview (and deck giveaway!) with Pamela Wells

We can be succinct and just call Pamela Wells the creatress of the Affirmations for the Everyday Goddess (Artmagic Publishing, $14.95). Or we can get all verbose and list the tasks she undertook to bring this gorgeous golden deck-and-book set into the world:

1. She conceived and illustrated the 22 cards, which were inspired by the major arcana of the tarot.

2. She wrote the 120 page guidebook, which includes all sorts of inspiring meditations and such.

3. She designed the book, cards, and box set. (Look inside it here and here.)

4. She arranged for the printing, distribution, and production of the set. Did I mention that it’s full color reproduction, with a gold ink overlay? In other words, not your usual b/w paperback that you can do at Lulu or Cafepress.

In other words, Pamela self-published Affirmations for the Everyday Goddess—a mighty task indeed to do properly—under the guise of her own imprint. (View some previous posts on self-publishing here and here.) The deck also available as an iPhone app, for those of you who like your oracles digital. My interview with Pamela is all about her experiences delving into this brave new world of artist-entrepreneur. Oh, and there’s a giveaway too—details below.

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KW: What inspired you to create the Affirmations For the Everyday Goddess deck?

PW: It all started with a very challenging portfolio review I did through the Society of Illustrators. I was doing a lot of work as a commercial illustrator at the time and so after years of doing technical illustrations I felt it was time to try something more creative. During the portfolio review I was told I needed to focus on one style that I really loved and felt passionate about. It was great advice but I couldn’t help but wonder if it would pay the bills especially since the first two paintings were an angel and Sophia, the goddess of wisdom!

KW: You decided to self-publish your deck, though I’ve heard you had interest from major publishing companies. What pushed you to make this decision, rather than going the traditional route?

PW: Initially I was approached by a publisher to illustrate a tarot deck set for women. After doing some initial research by calling about 2 dozen tarot artists willing to share their experiences, I decided not to. What I heard didn’t make business sense for me in royalties (income earned) for the amount of time it would take for me to illustrate a complete tarot set in my detailed, illustrative style. Despite this, I continued painting and a few years later I signed a contract with a different publisher. About 2 years into the process they canceled the contract after restructuring the company. So, there I was with finished cards and book and no publisher! I was very disappointed but not discouraged.

Luckily at the same time I was doing design work for a client who contracts with overseas manufacturers and I realized I had most of the skills and the financial resources I needed to publish and market the deck myself – graphic design, illustration, writing, prepress and marketing. I created a business plan and the business plan made sense if I contracted the printing with an overseas printer.

Looking back, I believe the experience of submitting art and copy to publishers gave me some of the creative confidence and quality standards I needed to succeed as a self-publisher.

KW: Can you share a little about your process in creating the paintings?

PW: Great question. I could easily write a full chapter on this as interest and use of the computer as a creative tool expands in both the commercial and fine art markets. But let me summarize my particular approach.

Many are already familiar with photo retouching software such as Adobe Photoshop and painting software programs such as Corel Painter. For those who aren’t, Photoshop software enables artists to assemble photos together in creative way similar to building a collage. This is how I begin my own creative process.

I assemble my own photos together in a compositional collage and once finished, import the photo collage into painting software. Next, I bring up the photo collage on one side of the screen to use as reference for my digital illustration. Then, I bring up a new digital canvas and begin drawing and painting. The actual specific brush techniques I use during the digital painting process have been published in many digital how-to books. My favorite is Cher Penarvis’s Painter Wow! books because she breaks down my painting technique step-by-step. The Wow! book series features many digital artists and digital illustration techniques and is a great reference for those who have an interest in using Corel Painter software.

KW: Besides writing and illustrating your deck, you also acted as designer of it. Affirmations For the Everyday Goddess has one of the most gorgeous production jobs I’ve seen in a while. For example, it’s printed with beautiful gold ink on the cards and box. You’ve also designed lovely details, such as decorative patterns on the inside of the keepsake box. Can you describe what was involved in producing and printing your deck?

PW: Thank you Kris! The project became a labor of love from the time I was told “paint what you love.” I now believe when we combine what we do with love and skills that we earn through study, time and effort, new creative ideas come about.

For instance, during the process of writing the book, I was studying the divine mystical aspects of each of the 22 major arcana cards and I was deeply moved by their profound wisdom. I knew then I wanted to design a package for these wisdom teachings in a way that reflected how sacred they are. But that wasn’t all. From a practical marketing perspective I felt that people would buy a deck set as a gift or collectable as well as for functional (contemplation or tarot readings) and educational (wisdom teachings) reasons. I knew my decision to use the metallic ink was unconventional since it isn’t considered practical in terms of what is known by publishers about the sidelines markets and it is very expensive.

Of course there were many other moments during the process when marketing, financial and production limitations were worked around by creative problem solving.

The design process was planned but also very organic. When I started, I knew I wanted to design a quality product so I made plans based on quality results by paying attention to the details. On the other hand, the details of the box, the frame of the cards and the book came together organically as I was drawn to shapes and colors that worked with the card artwork.

The printing was done in Thailand and even though the overseas printing process was at times stressful, I was grateful about how affordable the printing was. I now have a great appreciation for all the hard-working people overseas since much of the labor for the box-wrap is done by hand.

KW: One of the bugaboos that plague self-publishers is distribution and promotion—ie: getting their publications into stores so it can get sold. Every article about self-publishing usually includes a cautionary example of an author with thousands of unsold books in their garage. How are you solving this dilemma? What promotional tools did you use to get the word out about your deck?

PW: I use all the promotional tools I can especially with the internet becoming such an important aspect of marketing. A successful marketing and distribution strategy these days must consist of both traditional and online channels. For instance, since the deck was released in April 2009 I have sent out online press releases, finished an e-commerce site, placed traditional print ads, mailed out direct mail flyers, participated in artist and women’s events, attended book fairs in New York and London, joined self-publishing book clubs, Facebook and Amazon social networks, produced a free quarterly eNewsletter, sent media kits and advance copies to prospective media contacts and book buyers, contacted book distributors and finally with decks in-hand, spoken to local shop owners about selling the deck set. There is still much more marketing to do!

KW: What surprised you about the process of self-publishing?

PW: I was most surprised to discover I had writing skills. I was also surprised by how time consuming and complex the marketing process could be despite the fact I have career experience and a business degree with a major in marketing. I have learned throughout this process there is nothing taught or written that can fully prepare you for the creative or business challenges of self-publishing. Self-publishing entails a very broad skill set and an honest self-assessment of interests and abilities. The last time I illustrated was over a year ago!

KW: What did you find difficult?

PW: I find sales to be very difficult because I am not a very good networker and like many artists I am more introspective and find it challenging to be momentarily extroverted to sell a book!

KW: Alternately, what do you like about it?

PW: Of course I very much enjoyed illustrating the cards. I have had an interest in marketing for a long time so I also enjoy most of the marketing aspects of self-publishing. Many artists start their formal training with art college or a trade school but I think the delayed art training worked out for me since I had the opportunity to draw and paint with the first Mac and a mouse and then later as the equipment and software improved, a digital stylus and tablet.

KW: What would you do differently next time, if you were to self-publish again?

PW: I would hire another editor to proof the last-minute proof! I introduced a few typos in the last draft. I dare say I think in a year or two I may have a lot more to say about what I would do differently. So, please check back with me and I will have my list!

KW: Finally, any words of advice for other artists and authors who decide to self-publish?

PW: Follow your heart (intuition, passion and love) in what you create and use your mind (skills and intelligence) in what you sell. Being creative births your unique vision into the world. Selling means providing a product or service to other people that improves their lives. If you can put heart and mind together, you will be doing what you love in devotional service to other people and the whole world benefits.

Know yourself. Have a good assessment of what you can do or are willing to learn how to do. Know what you can’t do well or don’t want to do and budget for them in your business plan then delegate those tasks to an expert. I would say that the most important character traits that one needs are persistence and independent thinking.

Finally, develop a unique creative style which embodies your heart-felt message.

KW: What are you working on next? Any future decks or books?

PW: I am working on planning a vacation. LOL.

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Pamela has generously offered to raffle off one beautiful copy of Affirmations for the Everyday Goddess to one lucky blog commenter—thank you, Pamela! To enter the giveaway, the rules are simple. Just leave a comment below by midnight July 1, 2009. The winner will be announced on July 3rd on this blog. Good luck to all!

• Filed under friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, interviews, publishing, tarot and oracles | 8 Responses

Creativity Friday: Interview and book giveaway with Sandra Gulland, author of Mistress of the Sun

This Creativity Friday, I am fortunate to have Sandra Gulland as my guest. Sandra is the internationally acclaimed author of the Joséphine B. trilogy, which has sold over a million copies worldwide and been translated into thirteen languages. Her new novel, Mistress of the Sun (Touchstone/Simon and Schuster) was just released in paperback and has already hit the Canadian bestseller lists; it is the focus for my interview today.

As I wrote in my review yesterday, Mistress of the Sun is an opulent treasure of a historical novel. Set in seventeenth century France, Mistress of the Sun is the story of Louise de la Vallière, nicknamed Petite, who is swept into a secret, decade-long affair with Sun King Louis XIV.

In this interview, Sandra generously shares with us her experience writing Mistress of the Sun—an intensive process that took her eight years of research, travel, writing, and editing. It’s an inspiring look inside a writer’s creative process—a real treasure trove for anyone who’s interested in what’s really involved in writing a novel set in a long-ago time. Not only that, but we’re giving away a copy of Mistress of the Sun to one lucky blog commentor. (Details at the end of this post. However, if you can’t wait, you can buy it here from Amazon.)

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Kris Waldherr: One of the things which struck me about Mistress of the Sun was that you pulled off a difficult balancing act: The novel is both impeccably researched and gorgeously written. (Usually historical novels strike me as being tipped one way or the other.) Of researching and writing, which do prefer? And why?

Sandra Gulland: Oh, a difficult question! I love research — love getting lost in it, either in a wandering way, like a child in a toy store, or in a obsessive, focused hunt for information. But I love the writing — the fictional re-creation — even more, I think. Were it simply the research, I could write non-fiction, but it’s “the bringing to life” part of writing a novel that’s the main focus for me, and the reason for my passion for research.

KW: Related question: What is your research process like? Do you research as you write your novel? Or do you do the bulk of it beforehand? How did your research affect your plot choices for Mistress of the Sun?

SG: I try to be systematic about my research, but invariably I fail. I search out books, and buy in great numbers. Right now, because my husband and I are in a city, I’m making exhaustive use of the library system; soon I’m going to be deluged with all the books I’ve requested. (Some of these, I’m sure, I will decide to buy, so that I can freely mark them up.)

I did a great deal of research before writing Mistress of the Sun, but I also researched during and between drafts. Often I don’t know what I need to know until I’m deeply into a novel.

I didn’t run into too many surprises researching Louise’s story: her biographers have done a respectable job, so I had a good foundation. (This was not the case with Josephine.) Often research provides the answer to a problem. I was disturbed by the way Louise’s good friend Nicole simply disappeared from her life, for example. Fiction requires a certain degree of “wrapping-up” and life doesn’t always comply. Therefore I was both astonished and pleased to discover, in a footnote in the Bastille Archives, that Nicole ended up in Louise’s convent. (Learn more about Sandra’s research methods here.)

KW: I read that you discovered Louise de la Valliere, the heroine of The Mistress of the Sun, while researching Josephine Bonaparte for your Josephine B. trilogy. Can you describe the “aha” moment that
introduced you to Louise?

It was an intense “aha” that led almost immediately to writing a feverish short story (a story that ultimately became Mistress of the Sun). What I remember most clearly was finishing that story: my husband’s company was having a sales conference, and, since we lived in the country, some of the reps were staying with us. I remember emerging from my office shaken, and in tears, having just come to the end of the story — and was quite taken aback to discover men in our kitchen sipping herbal tea. As if a murder hadn’t just happened!

KW: In Mistress of the Sun, I loved how you developed the character of Sun King Louis XIV, who becomes Louise’s lover. Louis is a tricky, complex man, with many personal contradictions. Though Mistress of the Sun is primarily the story of Louise’s life as this king’s mistress, it’s also a recounting of how Louis shaped his mythos, as it were, into becoming the larger-than-life Sun King we recognize from history, and how this affected his relations with those he loved. What was involved in writing his character arc? Did you find yourself falling in and out of love with Louis as you wrote about him?

SG: Louis is, at heart, a good person and a good king, but this combination can be challenging for any man. He was born and died on a stage, so he rarely let his emotions show, yet he was a very emotional man (he cried easily). This must have been difficult for him.

KW: I was fascinated to learn that you involved a book club during the eight years that you were writing Mistress of the Sun. What did they do specifically? Were there any dramatic rewrites which occurred after receiving their feedback?

Some of the changes I made were meaty: I cut one chapter, for example. Other changes were subtle. I dropped hints about the true character of a certain unmentionable person (no spoilers here!) so that what happens in the novel didn’t come as a complete surprise, for example, and, too, I allowed our Petite some vindication. These changes were significant, in my view.

KW: Mistress of the Sun is written in third person; your Josephine B. trilogy was written in first person. Which do you prefer? What was it like to switch to third person, after writing three books from Josephine’s point of view? How did writing in the third person free you? Or not?

SG: I find the third person point of view very challenging. It’s elastic and requires discipline (not my strong suit). I think the first person voice is much easier (if you can find that voice), both for the writer and the reader, but it was important to me as a writer to expand my pallet. Too, the voice had to be right for the story. It wouldn’t have worked in the first person.

KW: Your narrator’s “voice” in Mistress of the Sun is opulent, wise but also dryly witty. I found myself laughing out loud at some of your passages; for example, your descriptions of Louise’s new stepfather
are priceless. It seems to me that you’re using humor to pop any illusions the reader might have about the infallibility of royalty—they’re human like us, only more ridiculous at times. After writing four books in which the ruling classes are prominently featured, what’s your takeaway?

SG: I actually think of myself as a bit of a comic writer, in a Winnie-the-Pooh sort of way. I think I tend to poke fun at people of all classes (think of Clorine, Petite’s maid, for example), but I have to admit that it is delicious fun to aim at the royalty. They take themselves so seriously!

KW: I follow you on Twitter and also read your very inspiring writing blog. You’ve been mentioning outlining your new novel and submitting it to your agent. What’s involved with that? Any advice for aspiring novelists?

SG: Outlining my next novel has been an interesting experience for me. I’ve always had some kind of plan, but I’ve never thought it out in such detail before. (And too, I’ve always ignored the plan.) This time I’m sketching it out scene by scene, and thinking in scenes makes a big difference, I think. It remains to be seen if it helps.

KW: Finally, I’m very enticed by the hints you’ve posted about your new novel’s subject matter. Can you tell me more about what we can look forward to? Will this take another eight years to be published. (I hope not!)

SG: I hope not, too! (That’s one of the reasons I’m giving so much thought to the story before I begin to write.)

It’s a very exciting subject, but a challenging one to tackle. Claude des Oeillets, Madame de Montespan’s maid, is the heroine. That seems like a simple subject, does it not? Not so! She was raised by actors, and her mother was a dramatic star, mentored by the great playwright Pierre Corneille. So there’s all that wonderful theatrical world, which was so extremely rich at that time (Corneille, Molière, Racine). Claude was also the go-between between Madame de Montespan and Madame Voisin, the woman who was at the center of the Affair of the Poisons: again, a big subject. And too, she had a child by the King: another dramatic dimension.

A big story, for sure!

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As I mentioned above, Touchstone Books has generously given us a copy of Mistress of the Sun to raffle off here. To win it, simply leave a comment by midnight, May 21, 2009. For a bonus entry, include your answer to the following question:

Is there a king or queen from history you’d have an affair with? If so, who and why?

(As for myself, I know that I would not choose Henry VIII. Too dangerous! But Louis XIV might be a bit more appealing….)

Only one comment per person; book can only be shipped to U.S. mailing address. Winner will be chosen at random and announced here May 22 in our next Creativity Friday. Good luck to all!

• Filed under blogs we read, creativity, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, interviews | 33 Responses

Tudors week: Interview and book giveaway with Alisa Libby, author of The King’s Rose

For this Creativity Friday, I thought it would be fun to interview another author about her work. Alisa Libby, author of the novel The King’s Rose, is my guest here today—perfect timing for Tudors week on this blog! Not only has she graciously agreed to answer all my questions, she’s also giving away a copy of The King’s Rose to one lucky commenter. (Details at the end of the interview.)

The King’s Rose is about teen queen Catherine Howard, the unfortunate fifth wife of Henry VIII. In most books about her, Catherine is usually described as a frivolous teenager with loose ways and a taste for shiny baubles. In Libby’s hands, Catherine takes on weight to become a thoughtful, tragic heroine caught between explosive familial expectations, romantic desires, and political plotting. An intense and haunting read.

Libby is also the author of The Blood Confession, a novel about Elizabeth Bathory. She lives in the Boston area with her husband. To learn more about The King’s Rose and Alisa Libby, visit her website.

BTW, if you’re just checking in now, earlier this week author Carlyn Beccia (The Raucous Royals) gave us a juicy guest post about Henry VIII’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. Yesterday, I wrote about Anne Boleyn, the king’s second wife who was incidentally a cousin of Catherine Howard; both women lost their heads and crowns for supposedly cuckolding the king. All of the queens mentioned during Tudors week are included in my book Doomed Queens.

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Kris Waldherr: In your first novel, The Blood Confession, you wrote about Elizabeth Bathory, the mad countess who murdered hundreds of young girls to bathe in their blood. In your second, you’ve written about Catherine Howard, an executed (some might even say murdered) young queen—sort of the flip side to Elizabeth. What inspired you to write about Catherine Howard? Are there any connections for you between these two historical figures?

Alisa Libby: I was drawn to both of these women because of their strange, illogical decisions. In spite of their differences, I had a similar reaction to reading about each of them: “What in the world was she thinking?” For Bathory, the question is for obvious reasons—she was a murderess with a very strange beauty regimen. As for Catherine, she was accused of having an affair with a groom of the king’s chamber during her marriage to King Henry. And this king had already beheaded a previous wife due to similar charges—her own cousin, Anne Boleyn. So, assuming that she was not framed for these crimes (making her that innocent would have made her less interesting to me) I wondered: what was she thinking? Was she deliberately cruel to King Henry, or overruled by passion and certain that her secret would be safe? I wrote both of my books to create a personal logic—though not always entirely logical—for each of my character’s seemingly inexplicable actions.

KW: One of the things which struck me the most about The King’s Rose was that your portrayal of Catherine Howard is compellingly sympathetic and very, very sad. Since you’ve written your novel in the first voice, it makes the young queen’s tragic choices very understandable; she’s clearly trapped by forces beyond her control. Was it difficult to come up with Catherine’s voice? How much did your own personality and life experiences influence the way you chose to present her?

AL: I found it very easy to believe that Catherine, being used as a pawn by her family, would have little choice in what happened to her. The fact that her life was controlled by others struck me as something teenagers may be able to relate to. I also had to imagine how Catherine’s early life would affect her character. She was shipped off to live with her step-grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, at the age of ten, after her mother’s death. This was not out of the ordinary, but it helped me imagine a girl with a deep desire for attention and affection. The trysts with two young men while she lived in the Duchess’s establishment could, I thought, support this claim. Catherine was wooed, to some extent, by Henry’s affections and—more importantly—his lavish gifts. This all made her seem like a real person to me, and her voice developed out of these decisions.

KW: Compared to most biographies and novels of Henry VIII and his ill-fated queens, The King’s Rose is somewhat revisionist. In many of these other books, Catherine usually comes off as the Lydia Bennett of Henry’s wives—a teenager more concerned with dancing, flirting, and finery than her role in history. (I’m especially thinking of her portrayal in Phillippa Gregory’s The Boleyn Inheritance.) Do you consider your portrayal of Catherine Howard more historically accurate? If so, why?

AL: I’m perfectly comfortable with agreeing that this is a “revisionist” history. It is fiction, after all, and though I did a good deal of research to get the details right, at a certain point a writer has to choose the story they want to tell and fill in the gaps that those history texts leave behind. I can’t actually purport to know what Catherine was thinking, or what she spoke to her ladies about, or whether or not she felt fear. But it’s my job as an author to fill in those details in a way I found both believable and interesting.

That said, Catherine does enjoy a fair amount of dancing, flirting and finery, but I couldn’t allow her to be only that and nothing else. While the accounts don’t paint her as the greatest thinker, I had a hard time imagining that she wouldn’t have had any trepidation about marrying King Henry—especially if she was in love with someone else at the time.

KW: Parts of The King’s Rose reminded me of fairy tales: in particular, Cinderella and Bluebeard. I also read a review which mentioned that The Blood Confession contained folkloric motifs reminiscent of Snow White. How important are folklore and fairy tales to your work as a novelist?

AL: I have a deep love of fairy tales. These stories are so embedded in our subconscious and in our lives that the connections are so easy to make. Catherine’s story is very much a Cinderella story—a terrifying one, but the similarities are still there. And the connection between Countess Bathory and the wicked queen obsessed with being “the fairest of them all” (and willing to murder in order to remain the fairest) was so natural. This only makes these old tales more fascinating to me: though fabulous, they are intrinsically connected to the human experience.

KW: The character of Henry VIII is difficult to parse in The King’s Rose, since we’re seeing him through Catherine’s eyes. Though they are a married couple, there’s a sense that there’s not truly intimate; she really doesn’t know him at all. At times, Henry is indulgent and loving to Catherine; other times, he is mercurial and violent, especially when you describe his decision to execute Margaret Pole. What’s your take on Henry VIII?

AL: Henry was a mix of contradictions, especially at this point in his life. From the accounts I read, he was unpredictable, constantly changing his mind on important matters. It was said that the king’s mind could be different after dinner than it was before. Also, I think that the nature of being king and wielding that kind of power made true intimacy impossible—even with his own wife. All of his closest advisors had their own best interests at heart. The selection of his brides was done with political motivations moving behind the scenes, even if Henry didn’t see them clearly. Catherine was not the “rose without a thorn” that Henry believed her to be, but her family was sure to make him think that she was.

KW: I was fascinated to read that you traveled to England to research The King’s Rose, and even visited Catherine Howard’s grave. What was that like? Any interesting (possibly supernatural) experiences to share? I read that there’s a rumor her ghost still walks Hampton Court.

AL: It was at Hampton Court that Catherine was first arrested, and supposedly she fled from the guards down a particular hallway screaming Henry’s name. The guards caught up with her and dragged her back to her room. Catherine never did see the king again, and was never able to explain to him her actions or beg his forgiveness. According to legend, Catherine’s ghost traverses this gallery shouting “Henry! Henry!”

My husband and I did walk down this very hallway on a ghost tour of Hampton Court. It was all very beautiful, but I didn’t see any ghosts there. I generally don’t have much luck (or misfortune, depending on how you look at it) in communicating with ghosts. I did have this wild fantasy of getting some message from beyond the grave—or at least receiving Catherine’s blessing in telling my version of her life. She was a real person, after all. I kept thinking, “I’m here. If you have anything you want to tell me, please say it now.”

Though I didn’t see her ghost, I did feel a profound sense of gratitude when we went to visit her burial place in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London. Catherine doesn’t often get visitors (unlike her cousin Anne, buried right beside her) but we had come a long way just to see her. I like to think that she was grateful.

KW: Finally, do you think there’s any way Catherine could have outwitted fate to live happily ever after?

AL: If she had become pregnant and given birth to a healthy boy, that would have saved her life. I don’t think any of her opponents would have been able to touch her: the king wouldn’t have allowed anything to besmirch the line of succession if it included another boy. If she had managed to do this (which may or may not have been possible, considering Henry’s age and health) and had no affairs—or at least been more discreet about them—she could have been safe. The king died in 1547, less than seven years after they were wed. She would have been in her twenties and honored as a Dowager Queen. She may have even been able to marry her darling Culpeper, if her family saw fit to allow it.

KW: What are you working on next?

AL: I hope to work on another historical novel soon, but right now I need a break from all of that research! It’s a daunting process, [ed: totally agree with Alisa there!] and I need to embrace it whole-heartedly in order to write a book. Right now I’m working on some contemporary fiction—a bit of an experiment. I hope it turns into a book someday.

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As I mentioned above, Alisa is generously giving away an autographed copy of The King’s Rose to one lucky person. Thank you, Alisa!!! To enter the raffle, leave a comment on this post before Thursday, April 9 midnight EST. One winner will be chosen at random and announced the following day in my next Creativity Friday post.

Good luck to all!

• Filed under creativity, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, interviews, queens | 41 Responses